Brilliant Disguise
by Laura Beckett
Summary: It's the last semester Tess will ever have to take. She's living with her best friend, William Beckett, and has fallen for the new kid, Drew, who she has been asked to tutor for math. But there's more to her friendship with Will than meets the eye . . .


CHAPTER 1

The alarm clock went off just as I thought I'd drifted into sleep. I pretended I hadn't heard it, and sure enough, the sound of sleepy footsteps stumbled down the hallway and into my room to hit the snooze button. I smiled to myself as I began to doze off again, thankful for the ten minute I had left before the mind-erasing buzz jarred me awake again. It didn't help much, however. While I still may have been trying to sleep, the rest of Chicago seemed wide awake.

When the alarm went off a second time, I was tempted to ignore it, but the promise of the weekend ahead probed me to rise. Looking blearily at the time and inwardly groaning, I pushed myself up and wobbled to the bathroom to take a quick shower before school. Turning the dial to hot and throwing my pajamas down the hall, I jumped into the still-freezing water. I winced as it hit my spine, and jumped away from the jet of frigidness. Sometimes, I wasn't awake enough to remember it took forever for the shower's water to heat up.

Once it finally reached a temperature a creature other than a penguin could enjoy, I grabbed the purple shampoo bottle and proceeded to rinse my hair out. I hopped out soon after and took a towel from its rack before rushing down the hall and into my bedroom to change into a gray beater and some purposely faded pink jeans, skin-tight of course. I also pulled on a tight black hoodie, and decided to do my eye makeup when I got to school.

Breakfast passed like always. I ate in silence by myself, no disturbances. I caught the buss without having to chase it for over a block, and took my usual place in the first seat and plugged my mp3 player in not having to reboot it more than once. I felt glares burning into the back of my skull, and pulled my beanie farther over my head. I was not exactly well-liked by the student population.

The bus pulled up in front of Barrington High and I quickly exited, heading towards the building, but not in time to avoid a ball of comfort flying into my side and knocking me to the ground. "Tess!" the ball cried, unfurling into one of my best friends, Christy.

I stood up, coughing from the impact. "Wow, Christy," I laughed, "Hyper, much?"

"I stopped at Starbuck's for that new coffee on my way here!" she replied happily. I gathered the books I'd dropped, and nodded silently, as we headed for the entrance. "What's wrong with you? It's Friday!"

I hesitated answering, but ended up anyway. Christy was nice enough, but sometimes very insensitive about things. "I guess I sort of miss Mom and Dad; even Emmett."

Instead of being rude, or taking a crack at my mother's obsession with old-fashioned names, Christy said, "That's to be expected, though. I mean, you haven't seen them since last September. Just remember, we're graduating in less that a semester! Then you can visit them."

"But it's expensive to fly to Dublin; plus I'd miss you," I responded.

"What are you worrying about?" she laughed, kicking the door to the girls' restrooms open and knocking a small freshman over in the process. "You already have the money for the ticket, and we have plenty of time. Besides," she added, "You're most likely going to go to college here anyway." She sat down on the tiled floor as I pulled my makeup out of my tote bag.

"I know, but you of all people know how persuasive Mom is." She did, too, and I could see her reminiscing over all of the times my mother had made her try one experimental dish of vegan cuisine after another. Like always, Christy wore her pajama bottoms, this time a vivid red, decorated with polar bears, and a black and white lifeguard hoodie, while I was, well, in her words, 'Dressed to kill.' I began lightly shading in the outlines of my eyes, next pulling out some mascara to make my nearly invisible lashes visible to the unaided eye. Finishing swiftly, we left, just as the bell signaling the beginning of school rang.

"So I'll see you after school?"

"Yeah – wait – no! I promised Mr. Sayers I'd tutor the new kid . . . Ashton or something. Apparently he's a bit behind."

Christy chuckled and walked away, saying something along the lines of "Sucks to be you." It didn't matter to me. As long as it got me closer to my goal, I didn't care in the least. I reached my homeroom, and sat down in my assigned seat at the back of the room, my mind coasting into matters only I could ever dream up.

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The bell announcing freedom rolled in about seven hours later. To me, that just mean I had to retreat to the library for tutoring. I never had met this guy; my math teacher had simply given me his name and the location where we would meet, almost like a blind date. The only difference was we were there to be bored, and not to get to know each other.

I approached the library. It was completely empty except for the librarians who were gossiping avidly to one another, and a single teenager sitting in the corner with his back to me. He had wavy brown hair, from what I could see. He turned around to face me was I approached the table. I sucked in my breath; I don't think I'd ever seen anyone as gorgeous as him. "Ashton?" I was in some sort of trace, one that only his voice broke.

"Actually, it's Andrew. Call me Drew, though." He had the soft, silky voice from the deep south. His piercing green eyes brought more depth to what he said, and the way his smiled curved made me melt. "Let me take those for you." I barely noticed him taking the books from my hands, just how their roughness touched my skin. I could feel myself blushing, and turned away from him.

"I'm Tess, but the way," I said shyly. I sat down beside him.

"Yeah, Mr. Sayers, told me." He shot me one of those dazzling smiled every girl dreamt of. "So, what do I need to catch up on, other that getting to know you?"

_Was he hitting on me?_ "Um . . . well . . . we were just reviewing logarithmic derivatives like always."

"Well that's a mouthful. I barely remember that."

"So, where did you come from?" I ventured. Drew smiled like he'd been waiting for that.

"What? The accent doesn't scare you, does it? My family moved here from Louisiana because my dad got relocated."

"Oh. I _wish_ that was what happened to my parents. That way, my mom wouldn't seem like such a brat. She gets everything she wants. My mother wanted to be in real _horse_ country and now they're all the way in Ireland." I put a hand to my mouth. "Oops . . . I'm ranting now."

"Eh, I don't mind. I love listening to your voice. It's so sweet."

I could feel my face heating up again. "Well, the good thing is, they let me finish my senior year by letting me stay with a friend."

"You're lucky. I tried that, but they wouldn't hear of it. But I guess there are a few things to look forward to." He handed me the review he'd been working on so I could check it for him.

"And that would be . . .?"

"Well, for starters, my math tutor is, like, totally cool," he said, mimicking a very girly lisp.

_Wow, this blush is never going to go away,_ I thought savagely to myself.

"Are you cold?" He held up a black and teal plaid jacket. I rolled my eyes, and he stared at me peculiarly for a moment, and then asked, "Do you want to come over later? This guy I met, Jordan, decided to throw a party for me so I could be fully welcomed to Barrington."

"I'm . . . I'm not sure." I finished correcting the sheet and handed it back to him. "You . . . you got numbers three, eleven, and twenty-one wrong," I mumbled. _Why was he inviting_ me_?_

Drew pushed the paper away. "I know you probably have better things to do, but it would make my day."

I bit my lip uncertainly. "I guess. Where is it?"

Drew's face brightened at my response. "It's at my place. Here's the flyer Jordan made." He handed me a black and white striped handout with colorful lettering.

I smiled and laughed. "Now will you get back to studying?" He grinned and nodded.

"But it's so much fun making you blush."


End file.
